This invention relates generally to handicrafts. More specifically, the present invention relates to a process for creating a yarn pile design on a temporary supporting medium, utilizing that temporary medium to secure the created pile yarn design permanently to a selected substratum, and then removing the medium from the assembly of the design and the underlying substratum.
Most carpet is made with looped pile yarn. A machine typically punches loops of a continuous yarn strand into a burlap-type fabric. A stabilization coating of some type of glue is applied to the back of the carpet so the loops will not easily pull out of the fabric.
Punched rugs (normally done by hand) are made by punching loops of continuous yarn or fabric strips into a burlap-type fabric. With punched rugs, in contrast with other types of carpet, the yarn loops are placed into the fabric with a hand held punch needle comprising a sharpened tube with a hole on the side near the pointed tip. Usually there is an outlined design on the fabric that is used as a guide. Various areas of the design are filled in with different colors of yarn to create a pile design on the opposite side of the fabric. As with carpet, a glue is applied to the back or non-pile side of the burlap-type fabric so as to bind the yarn loops to the fabric.
Another pile design craft is punch embroidery. This utilizes virtually the same technique as that described above in connection with punched rugs, except that the yarn is very fine, giving the crafter a more detailed design and more delicate finished crafts for other uses. Both methods offer the ability to vary the length of the pile by varying the length of the punch needle.
While the punched rug and punch embroidery techniques permit a crafter to create an attractive pile yarn design which may be tailored to suit individual preferences and needs, should the crafter desire to apply the created yarn pile design to a secondary substratum, such as an article of clothing, there has generally been no alternative other than to affix the fabric or primary substratum directly to the article of clothing. There has not been an acceptable process which permits the crafter to first create the yarn pile design, and then apply it directly to a selected substratum, such as an article of clothing, without also requiring that the fabric or primary substratum used to create the yarn pile design also be applied to the clothing article.
Accordingly, there has been a need for a novel process for creating a pile yarn design and then transferring it to a selected substratum directly. Such a process should be easy to understand and implement, and utilize familiar crafting techniques. Additionally, a process for transferring a pile yarn design to a selected substratum is needed which permits a crafter to create a desired pile yarn design on a temporary supporting medium, and then affix the pile yarn design directly to the substratum utilizing the temporary medium, after which the medium can be removed completely from the assembly of the pile yarn design and the underlying substratum. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.